Paul Stapleton, Managing Director of NIE Networks talks to Owen McQuade about the challenges in running an electricity network business and how the grid is facilitating the transition to a low carbon energy future. NIE Networks operate the electricity distribution network in Northern Ireland. It is an extensive network of 47,000 km with around 300...

Head of Energy Strategy Division in the Department for the Economy, Joe Reynolds, discusses the challenges facing the development of a future energy strategy for Northern Ireland and the trends affecting its perceived outcomes. Contextualising energy policy in Northern Ireland as being currently caught between the 2010 Strategic Energy Framework and the development of a...

Katy Hayward of Queen’s University Belfast offers her reflections on Brexit, borders and their potential impacts on criminal justice co-operation in Ireland. Opening her presentation, Hayward suggests that many questions remain unresolved in relation to the impact of Brexit on security and criminal justice cooperation in Ireland. Indeed, throughout her analysis she notes that the...

Paul Wickens, Chief Executive of Enterprise Shared Services (ESS) for the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), discusses the journey of digital government in Northern Ireland to date and offers some insight on the future roadmap of three new key strategies. Paul Wickens outlines that a lot has changed since the original concept of nidirect and...

Tag Archives: North/South

The slow St Andrews Agreement review of the North/South Ministerial Council’s work is starting to see results but major decisions are still on the backburner. Almost five years after its announcement, the...

A study on cross-border economic renewal has called for a three-pronged approach to economic development in the region. Stephen Dineen reports. Economists John Bradley and Michael Best have called for a rebalancing...

Michael D Higgins has taken over from Mary McAleese as Irish President, while Irish citizens in Northern Ireland will not receive voting rights for the foreseeable future. Meadhbh Monahan reports. Michael Daniel...

Ministers from North and South spoke of enhanced co-operation at this year’s Environment Ireland conference. Stephen Dineen summarises the main themes. There was a strong theme of North/South co-operation to Environment Minister...

Economists are increasingly being called upon to help ministers make policy decisions a senior Northern Ireland civil servant has told a Dublin audience. Meadhbh Monahan reports. Ministers realise that their projects won’t...

A new InterTradeIreland report shows that regulations from EU directives have little impact on companies who trade across the border. InterTradeIreland’s report has found that companies are not impacted significantly by environmental...

As Mary McAleese prepares to leave office, Peter Cheney previews October’s election and its relevance to Northern Ireland. Ireland’s first presidential election in 14 years is essentially a decision on the character...

Stephen Dineen discovers the easiest way to organise a tour of Leinster House. Northern residents can book tours of the Oireachtas directly, without needing a TD, Senator or embassy. For many people,...